Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or CBTp Therapist
The closing date is 19 July 2026

Job summary
East London Foundation Trust are pleased to offer the opportunity for a Psychologist or CBTp Therapist to join us in the City and Hackney Community Mental Health Service. This service, which is starting in September 2026, will offer a place-based service responsive to local population needs. This post holder will mainly work with people who have a diagnosis of psychosis /BPAD and/or are under care coordination due to the level of their current needs.

The post-holder will provide specialist evidence-based psychological assessment, formulation and intervention for people with a range of complex mental health needs, predominantly with a diagnosis of psychosis or bipolar affective disorder. The psychology team offer individual, couple/family and group interventions, and we would welcome the post-holder to contribute to our group programme.

Indirect work is also a key part of the role, and the post holder will offer consultation, team formulation, supervision and teaching to the MDT as well as attending regular clinical meetings.

The post holder will be committed to supporting the work of the wider psychology service in seeking to provide a high quality, equitable, culturally competent and trauma-informed service.

Main duties of the job

• The systematic provision of a high quality specialist clinical /counselling psychology /CBTp service to service users under the care of the City and Hackney Community mental Health Service.
• To bring a psychological perspective to the work of the Community Mental Health Service.
• Clinically supervise the work of assistant psychologists, graduate psychologists and, two years after qualifying, trainee psychologists.
• To promote and facilitate psychological capability within the Community Mental health Service e.g. via consultation, staff support and reflection and training.
• To support and lead when required, co-production and service-user involvement in psychology-related service development projects.
• To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team.
• Follow defined practices and procedures under the management and co-ordination of a senior psychologist.
• To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research.
• Participate in CPD and other developmental activities, keeping up to date with relevant psychological research and national guidance (DoH, NICE etc).

About us
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Details
Date posted: 06 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £58,133 to £65,261 a year per annum
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 363-CH8116001
Job locations: Vivienne Cohen House, 230 Homerton High St, London, E9 6AT, United Kingdom

Job description
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Patient Care

• Be responsible for providing a psychological perspective/ psychological expertise for service or team activities, including clinical care, team or service dynamics, systems, health promotion, team or service organisation, in a range of settings, e.g. CPA meetings, Community Mental Health Service clinical meetings, case discussions, team meetings.
• Provide specialist advice to, teach, train, supervise, support and consult to members of other staff groups on psychological theory and practice relevant to the Community Mental Health Service client group.
• To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required, including structured family therapy/family intervention following a theoretical model.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To liaise with referrers and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.

Clinical

• Be responsible for choosing and providing appropriate specialist psychological assessments.
• Employ a broad theoretical knowledge base to analyse and interpret complex information in order to develop a specialist understanding and to design specialised programmes of care tailored to individual need.
• Be responsible for direct delivery of specialist psychological treatments.
• Use a broad theoretical knowledge base and specialist clinical skills to develop and support the psychological skills of others (assistant psychologists, members of other staff groups and clinical / counselling psychologists where appropriate) via the development and delivery of teaching, training, supervision, support and consultation.
• Be responsible for providing and receiving highly complex, sensitive, distressing and emotional information in relation to mental health issues, where there are often barriers to acceptance.
• Spend sustained amounts of time with service users who may be aggressive and hostile, who may have poor communication skills and self care and special physical and/or mental needs.
• Communicate across language and cultural barriers.
• Be responsible for recording, monitoring and reporting on clinical work and communicating complex clinical information to a variety of recipients, e.g. service users, families and carers, other professionals, MAPPS and other formal panels and statutory and voluntary organisations, orally, in writing and/or electronically.
• Be responsible for proposing innovative responses to identified community needs and developing these in consultation with senior colleagues.
• Develop and deliver, jointly with more experienced clinical /counselling psychologists where necessary, teaching events for clinical/ counselling psychology training programmes.

Administration

• Record and report on personally-generated clinical and audit research/information.
• Enter clinical and audit/research information as required into local and Trust information systems.
• Record and report on personally generated clinical information.
• Prepare teaching materials and presentations to a professional level.
• Maintain and promulgate the highest standard of clinical record-keeping including electronic data-entry and recording, report-writing and be responsible for the exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society, HCPC or BABCP and Trust policies and procedures.

Management

• Implement Trust and local policies.
• Organise own day to day activities, plan and prioritise own clinical workload.
• Identify and propose potential changes to work practices and procedures in own area of work.

Performance and Quality

• Maintain and update research, knowledge and skills.
• Develop and implement service related and/or academic research projects.
• Develop and implement clinical audit and survey projects.
• Organise and supervise research activity undertaken by assistant psychologists and others within the Community Mental Health Service.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of local resources and service/professional links, legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific service and mental health generally.
• To work as an autonomous professional within BPS and HCPC or BABCP guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by the policies and procedures of the service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor.
• In common with all clinical / counselling psychologists/ CBTp therapists, receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines.

Person Specification
Education/Qualifications/Training
Essential

• Clinical or Counselling Psychologist or CBTp therapist
• HCPC registered or awaiting registration or BABCP accredited for the CBTp qualification

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working with a wide variety of service user groups across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity.
• Experience of work in a multi-cultural setting, including working with interpreters.
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Experience of delivering evidence-based psychological assessment and intervention with clients experiencing a range of complex mental health needs including psychosis.
• Experience of developing and carrying out research projects

Desirable

• Experience of working with families and carers, and of delivering family therapy following a theoretical model.
• Experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. This may have been gained through work, research, volunteering and / or lived experience.

Knowledge and skills
Essential

• Highly-developed skills in the effective communication of highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to a wide variety of recipients in a range of settings within and outside the NHS, including the ability to produce comprehensive and coherent letters, reports and associated documentation.
• Knowledge of psychological assessment and intervention with clients experiencing severe mental health problems including psychosis.
• Skills in working in multidisciplinary settings.
• Skills in providing advice and consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Ability to provide a culturally-competent and non-stigmatising service including an awareness of the potential impact of discrimination and disadvantage on mental health
• Ability to support and co-ordinate the work of psychology colleagues within the team/service.
• Highly-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised evidence-based psychological therapies relevant to the client group.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed care and practices

Desirable

• Working knowledge of the practices and approaches of other key disciplines, professions and agencies involved in the care and management network, including medical, employment, social, educational and criminal justice systems.
• Doctoral-level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex, multivariate data analysis as practised within the field of clinical psychology.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details
Employer name: East London NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Vivienne Cohen House, 230 Homerton High St, London, E9 6AT, United Kingdom
Employer's website: Apply through our website

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Principal Clinical Psychologist, Manjumitra Johannessen (He/him)
manjumitra.johannessen@nhs.net
07947380350